Considering a Viking River Cruise in 2024? Watch this first! Our COMPLETE GUIDE to Viking Longships!

Welcome to our complete guide to Viking's River Longships. We believe this is the first and most comprehensive guide of its kind on YouTube, so it will be very relevant to anyone who has or is looking to book a Viking cruise. And with over 60 near-identical longships on the rivers of Europe, there's a huge chance that you'll find this guide very insightful and useful indeed. By the end of this video we hope you'll have enjoyed a great little introduction to the Viking river fleet, the dining, the amenities, the types of staterooms and suites, and give you all you need to make that decision as to whether Viking is right for you. So, what is a longship? What do they look like? What features do they all have and how do you spot one and, well, the obvious question, are they any good? We're going to give you our opinion of all the great features and also reveal these ships' shortcomings based on what we learned on a full week's cruise. Did we enjoy this ship as much as Viking's ocean ships? Did they have the same feel to them? Stay tuned to find out. Let's make a start, shall we? Viking has been sailing guests around Europe's rivers since its founding in 1997, and it was after a period of explosive growth using a fleet of pre-owned ships the company decided to design a ship that was like no other. The first Viking longship was launched in the spring of 2012 An innovative design, it was meticulously sized to fit the constraints of the many low bridges and locks on the rivers. We also noticed that they are subtly designed so they can be docked next to each other with relative ease. In fact, they almost look like they interlock. I'm sure this was part of the design consideration too, because berths on popular rivers are almost always shared, with river ships stacking against each other. Viking knew this of course, and with the design, just made this necessary inconvenience a lot easier. Viking took feedback from ocean cruisers that demanded further luxuries like balconies, which were a difficult challenge given the width constraints of a river ship. But Viking shifted the placement of the main cabin corridors off-center, and this meant that Viking could offer 2 large suites, 7 veranda suites and 39 veranda cabins, while increasing total capacity to 190 guests in 95 staterooms. Actually, if you notice, the starboard side of the ship is all uniformly placed balcony staterooms, but the port side has a mixture of suites, which were turned 90 degrees to fit the slightly thinner profile of the port side of the corridor, and staterooms with a Juliet balcony, which don't need the additional depth of an outside balcony. Genius! Also, a uniquely recognisable feature is the rather squared-off bow. Unlike a traditional river ship, this bow allows more interior room, and that's where the longships have the galley kitchen, which, as we'll show you in a few minutes, services both restaurants, that happen to be at the front of the ship without additional footfall for the servers. Again, we think this is another ingenious design element that makes the longships recognisable from a distance on any river. Such was the success of this design with both industry professionals and guests that the rollout of new longships was expanded greatly. In 2013, the company simultaneously christened 10 longships, and this was followed in 2014 by naming 18 ships in three ceremonies over five days, earning Viking a Guinness World Record. The very next year, they launched 10 more longships and two ships on the Elbe River. Today, Viking operates an incredible 55 near-identical longships. There's also a slightly shorter and therefore reduced capacity design of longships, and four of these operate on the same river in France. In addition, there are a further five baby longships, two on the Elbe and three on Portugal's Douro River. Wow. So, what makes these ships so successful, and why should you consider one for your next river cruise? Well, we'll go inside now and we'll show you the features of a longship, the accommodation types, the dining you can expect, the top deck, and also tell you the drawbacks. And yes, there are some, so keep watching. A Viking longship is designed in a very clean, uncomplicated, and logical way. At the front of the ship is all the public areas. In the middle, although it's not technically in the middle, but you know what I mean, is the reception area and two-story atrium, and the rear of the ship is all accommodation. So, let's go inside. The fully glazed reception area is very open, spanning the middle and upper decks and topped with a glass roof, ensuring as much natural light as possible shines into this lovely space. Starting on the middle deck, you may notice the main staircase is off-center, a quirky design that echoes the stateroom corridor's unusual alignment. At the rear of the reception area is the reception desk. Reception weapons may vary depending on ship. And opposite that is a small shop selling Viking souvenirs and fine quality apparel. There are plenty of seating areas here to take advantage of all that natural light. The future cruise desk is here, and a rather handy screen showing you where you are. Across from here is an elevator spanning all three interior decks, and there's also the entrance to the restaurant. Go downstairs from here to what's called the main deck, and you'll find only water-level staterooms here, and we'll show you those soon. Back up on middle, through the entrance doors, there's a small outside area which sort of serves as an entrance porch. Let's go to the upper deck now, and there's a beautiful piece of art that differs depending on which longship you're on, and there's some nice little seating areas up here too. Directly above the reception desk and shop downstairs is a small library area and a couple of computers. These little sheltered outdoor areas either side lead up to the sun deck. Let's just go back downstairs and take a look at the main restaurant on middle deck. The restaurant is flooded with natural light from these incredible floor-to-ceiling windows which run the whole length of the venue. There's a cooking and serving station roughly in the centre, and we'll come onto the food in a few minutes. There's one thing we noted in this restaurant that may be an issue for some prospective guests. There are no tables for two in the entire restaurant. The couples that prefer to dine alone should not fret, however, as there are tables for two in the Aquavit Terrace. Let's go to the upper deck now, and immediately above the restaurant is the Viking Lounge. Just before you get in there, on both sides of the ship is the tea and coffee station, where you can pick up a complimentary beverage and a delicious cookie, 24 hours a day. The lounge is exactly what you would expect from Viking. Classic Scandinavian in style, and some quality seating that actually is more comfortable than it looks, which is pleasantly surprising because in many ships it's the other way round. I guess this is a post-pandemic carryover, but actually these beautifully clean, almost invisible screens that separate the groups of chairs and tables actually benefits the guests by not only providing a subtle barrier against airborne nasties, but cutting down on noise transfer, which makes conversations when busy in here much less effort. The bar here serves very reasonably priced drinks, and if you get this silver drinks package, everything you see on the shelves is yours to sample. Only the most premium spirits and fine wines are extra. In our opinion, there's really no need to spend anything more if you have the package. There's loads of premium spirits included. If you don't like to indulge too much, Vikings serve beer and wine at mealtimes as part of your fare, and the beers and wines are very good, and from your locality if available. It's a very good deal indeed without the silver drinks package, so something to think about. Also, the lounge is where the resident entertainer, well, entertains at lunchtime and the evenings. The entertainment on board varies according to where you're sailing, and often during your cruise there will be guest local entertainment, giving you a flavour of the country you're visiting. To be honest, the resident entertainer is excellent background music, and it's lovely to have live music, but it's the guest entertainers that really bring the culture of the locality to life. The lounge also serves as the venue for daily pre-dinner, port talks, captain's welcome and farewells, and other gatherings. You could call it the social hub of the ship. At the very front, the lounge leads out to the Aquavit Terrace, which is split into two areas, inside and outside. Well, actually the lines are blurred on that because these huge glass doors at the front open right up, to bring the outside in, and the whole terrace had this lovely al fresco feel to it. We absolutely loved this area, and were out here every single day having a spot of lunch or dinner, but more about that later. There's tables and chairs for dining, and a couple of very comfy lounge areas, where we like to sit during the port talks, as it was a little quieter out here, and they have speakers in here to hear the talks, and these clever TVs that pop up, so you can also see the slides they show from the projectors in the lounge. When the French doors are closed, you go outside through this door, and to the wonderful terrace. Outside on the terrace, there's some steps here on the port side, that lead up to the sundeck, and that's where we'll head now. The sundeck is designed with simplicity in mind, there's a walking track, but no splash pool or hot tub, no bikes stored here, Viking doesn't do bikes on its river ships, and no comfy lounge style seating. It's all fairly conventional stuff, but there's plenty of places to sit or lay, and there's plenty of shade, whether it's under the hydraulic canopy here, or at the front under these large sturdy parasols. Do you like a pool on board a river ship? Is it really a necessary feature? Leave us a comment with your thoughts. Me personally, I can live without it, but some may find its absence a negative. Also, there's no gym on board, which to be honest, I didn't lose any sleep over. The included walking tour excursions are a perfect replacement for your morning cardio session, and you get to see your new locality too. That's a win-win. At the rear of the sundeck though, another standard feature to all long ships, which you can't find on almost every other river ship, is a herb garden, which the chefs use daily in their meal prep. What an absolutely great idea. This is flanked by a small putting green and a shuffleboard area. Presumably the chefs don't get too distracted by these, while the lamb in the galley waits for some fresh rosemary. Because of the low bridges the long ships have to squeeze under, everything up here is collapsible, including the bridge, which hydraulically lowers. In summary, the sundeck is a more simpler and functional design and less luxurious than many other river cruise ships we've sailed on. Whether that's problematic for you is a matter of taste and opinion, but for us, the parasol tables and chairs at the front were actually a joy to sit on, while enjoying a glass of fizz on a sunny afternoon. And the sun lounges under the canopy were just fine too, so no complaints on either. Now we've shown you the public areas of the ship, let's show you the private areas, the staterooms and suites. There are five categories of stateroom on board a Viking long ship. Standard, and there's 25 of these. 22 French balconies, 39 verandas, seven veranda suites, and last but not least, the two explorer suites. We're going to take a look at the most prevalent class, the veranda, and we'll show you the differences between that and the other categories. Let's take a tour around suite 303, which was ours for the week. In keeping with Viking Scandi traditions, the decor and colour scheme in the room is light woods and creams. It has a fresh modern feel to it, but with everything fairly neutral in here, some may be disappointed with the lack of bright colours. The highlight, of course, is this wonderful veranda. Facing back towards the entrance door, you have wardrobes one side and the bathroom the other. Let's now show you a few little details. The bed has some rather interesting lighting, including these two reading spotlights and also some relaxing soft night lighting behind the headboard. There's plenty of sockets by the bed and they are nicely spaced out too, so even with adapters, you can use both at the same time. The full-length wardrobe is a little snug, but for a week-long cruise coupled with Viking's relaxed dress code, it's adequate. The cupboard to the left of the wardrobe is voluminous with these cavernous shelves, which swallow all your stuff. And a massive thumbs up to Viking for the huge safe. Not every cruise line thinks of these things as important, but if you have laptops or iPads, it's incredibly useful. The main side unit below the TV and mirror runs the length of the room and neatly disguises a built-in fridge, which is thoughtfully designed with a cutout in the shelving to allow tall bottles. Another little touch that just makes everything more satisfying. Oh, and if you need ice for your ice bucket, there's a handy dispenser on every stateroom corridor. Help yourself. Yet another thoughtful addition is the fruit, but instead of a messy fruit bowl, you get a neat plate with a single type of fruit, and these are changed every couple of days to something new. We've not seen that before and we think this is another nice touch. Overall, this unit works really well functionally and with its clean lines is very easy on the eyes. The bedside tables are a bit of a quirky design, however. They have no drawers and feature this slide-out extension that we never found a use for. Because this room is slightly larger than the other categories, the table on the veranda side was larger and a lot more practical, but still with the quirky little pull-out feature. The room also comes with a stool and a chair. Another little feature is that the TV speakers are built into the ceiling, which is a really good idea. Firstly, it takes away the noise from a dividing wall and secondly puts the sound closer to you as you lie in bed, so the sound is much better quality at lower levels. Another very well thought out detail. All categories of accommodation, except the nine suites, have identical bathrooms, so by showing you Stateroom 303, you can assume any other category you choose will be identical. The standard bathroom is just superb with a double glass door shower, heated floors and heated mirrors. Heated floors and mirrors are generally the preserve of much more expensive ultra-luxury ships, so Viking having these as standard is a surprise. The only thing we found a little frustrating was the toilet roll holder, which if you lost the end of the roll inside the slot, you had to fumble around for it. Yes, it's a first world problem, but in the interests of a balanced review, we had to mention it. Finally, the veranda itself. Yes, it's narrow, but this is a river ship, not an ocean cruiser, and we found it so relaxing and enjoyable being able to sit out here in our own private space, enjoying a glass of wine as the Danube glided by. Let's show you a few differences between this veranda stateroom and the other categories. First up, the standard water level staterooms. These rooms are smaller in depth and are on the waterline, but the view you get from these windows, I like to call it a swan's eye view, is fascinating. The window shelf is nice and deep too for storing bits and pieces. Next up, the French balcony stateroom is the same depth as the water level staterooms, and you can see the difference in width of the balcony side table compared to the veranda stateroom. The French balcony is beautiful though, letting in a ton of natural light and fresh air. Now let's see the category above our room 303 and the veranda suite. Bedroom is separate from the living area, and the living area has a balcony similar to our standard veranda stateroom, but in addition to that, the bedroom area has a French balcony. The bathroom is bigger too with a larger enclosed shower. Very nice indeed. Out of all the categories on board, this was our favourite. If you fancy something a little more exclusive than that, here's a little peek into the two explorer suites that share all the space at the rear of the upper deck. We've just about covered the physical aspects of a Viking longship and we hope you found it insightful and useful thus far, but don't go anywhere. We're going to finish this guide by talking a little about one aspect of cruising that is always at the forefront of guests' minds. That's right, the dining. What are the options on a longship and what is it actually like? And how does it compare to Viking's ocean ships? Well, let's dive in. Well, I'm happy to say that overall the food is as good as the ocean ships, which by the way, we think is utterly superb, even though on a much smaller river ship, obviously the selection isn't going to be as wide and the number of dining venues is only two, the restaurant and the Aquavit Terrace. Furthermore, the two venues share the same menu, so it's actually one set of choices. You just have to choose what style of venue you wish to enjoy. I'm making this sound too basic because actually the variation and quality on offer, in our opinion, was as good as we've had on any premium cruise, river or ocean. Breakfast can be taken in the Aquavit Terrace, where a continental selection is available from early in the morning before the restaurant is open. And while this is mainly the sum of what you see here, the restaurant is the place to go if you want the full arsenal of the chef prepared choices. And there's plenty of choice and it's all cooked fresh and presented very well. Lunchtimes are fun on the Aquavit Terrace. The menu choices are usually a couple of starters, four mains and two desserts. And these change every day. On top of that, you have the always available classics and these do not change. Press pause if you want to read this selection of menus. We like the fact that the portions are not huge, leaving you room for all three courses and more importantly, cuts down on food waste. Presentation of the food is clean and unfussy and more importantly, tastes wonderful. If the weather is good, they even have a chef station out on the Aquavit Terrace who will whip you up the special of the day in no time. There are little items dotted around the ship during other times too. Grab and go with shiny red apples in the reception, late night treats at the coffee station or settle into pre-dinner cocktails with the tasty canapes served every evening or nutty nibbles. Mmm, wasabi peanuts. Leave room for dinner though, which is a single seating starting at 7pm. Beware the bread they leave on your table. It's fresh out of the oven, it's warm and it's delicious. We normally avoid the bread on cruise ships but there's no escaping the clutches of this. It's bread heaven. The dinner menu always features a regional speciality at the top and the region's wine pairing at the bottom which is included with your meal. In between is a menu that changes daily and on the left hand side is always available classics. Here's a little gallery of some of the things we enjoyed. On your voyage you're more likely to experience a themed dinner evening and on ours it was Austrian and the restaurant looked fabulous as did the waiting staff who were all dressed for the occasion. The tables were also dressed as if you were in a traditional Austrian cafe and the food was a delicious array of local dishes, rustic beers and finished with a fiery shot of something I can't remember. It was very strong though. Very strong. What a fun evening. We hope you've enjoyed our guide to Viking's longships. Why not continue your Viking journey with us by watching these next? Thank you.